Over the next few weeks we will be highlighting award-winning projects and ideas from this year's Core77 Design Awards 2012! For full details on the project, jury commenting and more information about the awards program, go to Core77DesignAwards.com

The Shavit is an ambitious transforming motorcycle that invokes two very different styles.

Living in an urban area the need for a car is hardly justified, a motorcycle however is a different story. Eyals Melnick's superbike concept helps bridge the gap between a urban and race motorcycle. The ergonomic characteristics vary drastically for the two types of riding styles. Melnick's concept has an adjustable fork, footpegs, and sub-frame that allow it to change to the demands of each rider.
Shavit is basically a road sport bike (superbike), with an adjustable riding position system, which allows it to turn into an everyday tourer/urban motorcycle, without sacrificing its basic sportbike character, by changing the riding position geometry and basic bike ergonomic. Its structure creates a sharp and aggressive superbike icon, that would talk to superbike riders' hearts, which are rather conservative by taste and acceptance of new technologies which change the familiar visualizations of bikes.

How did you learn that you had been recognized by the jury?

As I do everyday, I start my work day with briefly going through the main design magazines and blogs. I saw the post for the announcement of the winners and later checked to find that I had won.

What's the latest news or development with your project?

I'm currently developing several more motorcycle projects as a part of my portfolio for vehicle design studies. I take a lot of the elements from the Shavit Project like, the electric engine platform, rider ergonomic solutions and try to create a series of motorcycle concepts that share the same ideas.

What is one quick anecdote about your project?

I would like to explain the project's name, Shavit. In Hebrew it means "comet" but besides the translation it is named after Tal Shavit. He was the pioneer of motorcycle journalism in Israel but was was killed in an accident in March 2011. Tal Shavit was my childhood hero, and ever since I could read I connected strongly to his writing and photos. It was the closest way I could see exciting and exotic motorcycles, and he was one of the driving forces that got me into the motorcycle world. This project was inspired by him.

What was an "a-ha" moment from this project?

The main problem was to create a main anchor point for the entire design. With so many moving components I was afraid the whole thing would look like a mess. The footpegs, seat and handlebars had to move all together to create the necessary riding position changes, and all these parts were isolated and located in different areas. The use of the engine round contour to be used as the main pivot point was a great solution for me, and also turned out to be very precise by the ergonomic result. From this circle the motorcycle was built, by offsets and movement tests, until all parts connected together and were in their exact place. These offsets defined the final shape in the functional and conceptual design.

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3 Comments

As an avid rider, I'll just point out the things that catch my eye with this concept:
1. First and foremost, there's a rider. Far too many concepts exclude the rider. I've seen bikes that look absolutely amazing as sculptures parked off the road, but just look absolutely awkward when a person lifts their leg over it. 100% most important part of a motorcycle concept.
2. Hubs on the wheels and chain driving it. Thank you for not being ridiculous! Chains are one of the most efficient means of mechanical power transmission. In addition, it keeps weight unsprung for proper suspension action.
3. While he did incorporate the rider in his concepts, I think the positions need to be tweaked.
4. I like the idea of on-the-fly posture adjustment. I feel the designer approached the concept in a respectable manner.

I understand when designers start to question the function of everything and argue 'function is the point' , but I don't mind really cool looking renderings that get me excited-
I believe that having something cool looking that gets people excited is often equal an objective to efficient/innovative/ or whatever sort of highly praised function. I also don't believe it is an either/or proposition and a good product can have both inspiring looks and well thought out function- but a good product can also only have one of those two halves.
interesting topic to discuss though. I do think this bike looks pretty cool though, and the function might be ok too.

There seems to be a trend in the slight transformation in shape of individual transportation concepts. The hiriko(MIT CityCar) comes to mind. Are these transforming vehicles actually addressing real problems that exist with their current counterparts? Are they even addressing the real problem with individual transportation? I'd like to get a dialogue going to see what people think. Also, these concepts may be more damaging to industrial designers than a simple sewing machine concept. Discuss!

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